A one year project to become a better man in America's south
Day 139 – Any day in Charleston, South Carolina is going to be a good day, even if its just for a few hours.
After spending some time in the office, recording Congressman Wilson, getting taped by Nancy Mace (more on that sometime later) and meeting with David Asiamah about his Columbia Blogger Series, I hit the road with Elizabeth for our Christmas break in Charleston. Tonight we spent time with some of our best friends, Kristin and Jason Fry, to exchange gifts.
Day 138 – I’m a firm believer that the best Christmas presents are drank or eaten. The memory of enjoying an Omaha Steak and a good glass of wine is far better than the new Dust Devil sitting under the Christmas tree. When I can shake a wrapped gift and clearly hear liquid sloshing around, I get pretty excited. Unless of course I open it up and it’s a bottle of pine-sol to complement the new Dust Devil. Fun Christmas.
As I get older, the gifts I need start to get more mundane and less exciting, so eating and drinking the holidays away is always a perfect time to experiment with new culinary fascinations.
Day 134 – One thing I left out yesterday about the value of an oyster roast is the perfection known as the oyster shooter. It’s as American as apple pie. Or maybe more Charlestonian perhaps. I don’t really know either way.
Day 133 – We’re having an exciting year over here at Donehue Direct. As we grow, it seems that sometimes I have to take a step back and realize why I got into the consulting and politics business in the first place. Work is work, but there’s also the human need to unwind- as the workload increases and campaign season starts, I know I definitely have to cool off and have a few laughs or else we’re going to go crazy with polls and twitter updates.
Day 121 – Whew…I’m beat.
I woke up at 4:00 AM to hop a flight back from DC to Columbia. I was in town less than twenty-four hours for a quick meeting. Now I’m heading back to Columbia where I will immediately hook up with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for a book tour stop.
Day 118 – WOOT! WOOT! I’m 32. And I feel it.
The day didn’t start out great. I’m definitely feeling my age now. I hit the gym first thing this morning, and while pushing a giant tractor trailer tire across the gym, I felt an urgent need to puke. So I ran to the restroom, puked my guts out and headed home. I got home, opened the door, fell to the floor in the foyer and slept for a little over an hour. Yep, I literally passed out in the foyer of my home.
Day 116 – Today I learned that I’m supposed to only wash my hair twice a week. Ok, this one is new to me and I just don’t know how I feel about it.
As a man, I should be going to a barber shop and not a stylist, but today I had to make an exception. Before I get into this, you should know that my father was a barber and my mother was a cosmetologist. That means I got my hair cut all the time.
Day 113 – Elizabeth blogs occasionally about things that “made me smile.” Today I want to tell you about something that made me scream.
I absolutely hate AT&T’s 3G MicroCell. Don’t buy it.
This device plugs into your Internet service to extend 3G into a building with poor AT&T service. It’s
Day 112 – Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
It was a very special day for us. We hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner at our home. We picked up my grandmother and Elizabeth’s grandmother from their respective homes. Elizabeth’s brother and my sister, brother-in-law and niece drove up from Charleston.
Day 88 – We were being hammered for weeks. Support for the national Fair Tax was starting to catch up with Congressman Jim DeMint during the final weeks of his campaign for the United States Senate.
The Fair Tax is a pretty good idea. Eliminate all taxes, get ride of the IRS and just stick a 23% sales tax on everything. The problem is that its hard to argue that in a 30 second ad, but it’s real easy for your opponent to argue that you want to raise taxes by 23% on EVERYTHING. Groceries, gas, clothes, you name it, Inez Tenenbaum said that Jim DeMint wanted to raise taxes on it.
By now you know that I’m teaching a Sunday School class on Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Today we got into Book 3 – Christian Behavior. It’s always fun when you get to talk about sex and alcohol in Sunday School.
And by “fun,” I mean totally awkward.
As I was leaving church today, I thought more about this issue of temperance. I talked about it before in my post Christianity and My Vodka Tonic and today I started thinking about how screwed up our society has become.
Our world today is full of people who do things to the extreme or don’t do them at all. Just look at the college kids right here at the University of South Carolina. They have do-gooders telling them not to drink at all. And they have frat brothers forcing liquor down their throats through funnels.
What they don’t have is someone saying “dude, drink three or four beers, chill and have some good conversation.”
People just expect you to fall in one of the two extremes. No one expects you to be in the middle.
The sad thing is that there are people out there that do live a temperate life style with regards to alcohol. You may even be one of them.
However, they typically are the ones that aren’t vocal about it. Alcohol to them isn’t something to be feared or worshipped. They just enjoy it with their friends, enjoying its properties while holding it with a healthy respect.
Drinking less than I do or drinking more than I would be able to handle could also be forms of temperance. This really is a personal issue and deciding for yourself what would be best.
Even not drinking at all can be a form of temperance if you are someone who knows that they cannot handle even the smallest bit of alcohol.
The problem comes when people start judging others for not doing exactly as they are doing. Therefore the teetotalers as well as the binge drinkers who look down on you are both in the wrong.
Be honest with yourself. You know what you can and cannot handle. Don’t let anyone else force you to either extreme.
Day 86 – Are you adventurous? When you go to a new bar, do you get your “go to” drink or do constantly look to try something new?
More importantly, are you a fan of spiced rum? If you know me, you know that I enjoy a good rum and Coke. In fact, it’s probably one of my favorite drinks out there.
Day 84 – Is too many? Are too many? Whatever…
Well, see that picture above? That’s too many.
I think its safe to say that a man should not have more shoes than his wife has. I’m cutting it close.
But while you shouldn’t have as many as your wife has, you should also have more than just one. No Rob, wearing sneakers with a suit is not acceptable. You have to cut that out.
Day 83 – This morning I woke up bright and early to join Anne Postic, better known as The Shop Tart, on WACH Fox to promote a great event happening on Halloween night.
Day 82 – From my frequent posts about the Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show, you know I love bluegrass music. What you don’t know is that I’m also in love with the cello. When I’m writing, I often listen to Yo Yo Ma and the Turtle Island String Quartet.
I also love the energy and inspiration instrumental groups such as Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky provide. Just pay attention to the Spotify Facebook stream, and you’ll see those two groups dominating my 9-5 workday.
Day 81 – Some days a man just has to look himself in the mirror and say “I look like an idiot.” It could be a haircut or a beard or even a beer gut. Hell, it could be just about anything.
Today, I had that experience after Elizabeth told me that I wear my pants too short. Seriously. We’ve been married nearly seven years, and she is just now telling me that my pants are too short.
Day 79 – Want to see me cry?
There are two things that get the job done: seeing Mufasa give up his life to save his son’s and little bald kids with cancer.
Seriously, I just have to see a little bald kid and I tear up. They don’t even have to have cancer. I’ll just assume they do and sob.
Day 78 – Today I took a slight setback in my project to become a better person. I actually became “the worst person in the world.”
I want to thank the Libyan rebels. I climbed a couple spots with the death of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Now with Moammar Gadhafi out of the way, I can finally take the top spot. I am still confused how both Senator Jim DeMint and I jumped over Kim Jong Il, but I’ll just take my good luck where I can get it.
Day 61 – We just got back from the USC / Auburn game. I don’t want to talk about it.
No, I’m not going to yell about Garcia’s nine interceptions in just five games or Spurrier’s inability to get him to the point a 5th- year senior should be. I’ll just call it what it is – unrequited love. I love them. They don’t love me back.
Day 60 – And BOO YAH, September is done.
Another month down. Two straight months of blogging every single day. How about that?
It hasn’t been easy, but I’m getting it done and I appreciate you reading.
